Staten Island woman injured as car struck home sues city for $20M

Police and fire personnel worked at the scene of the accident in Tottenville. Lisa Micciulla-Roman and her 5-year-old daughter, Leonora, suffered severe multiple injuries, their lawyer said.Advance File Photo

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Lisa Micciulla-Roman and her 5-year-old daughter went to bed on the last Thursday in September hoping to dream sweet dreams.

But they were awakened hours later to a real-life nightmare: Mother and child found themselves pinned beneath the front end of a car operated by an alleged drunk driver that had plowed through the front of their Tottenville home. The victims suffered severe injuries, including multiple fractures as well as burns requiring surgery and painful skin grafts, said their lawyer.

In a chilling coincidence, a decade earlier in August 2002, a monster pickup truck crashed into the same building at 5309 Arthur Kill Rd., tearing through the kitchen and narrowly missing a 62-year-old resident, Advance records show.

As she and her family struggle to pick up the pieces of their lives, Ms. Micciulla-Roman has filed a $20 million notice of claim against the city and two of its agencies. The notice is the first step in the process of suing the city, the Department of Transportation and Department of Design and Construction.

"It's incredible to me that the same type of accident -- at the same location and involving the same house -- happened 10 years ago," said Jonathan D'Agostino, Ms. Micciulla-Roman's Eltingville-based attorney. "The city knew this was a dangerous situation, and instead of taking adequate precautions, they chose to take the path of least cost."

D'Agostino said the city installed a single sign with arrows advising drivers they must turn left or right at the T-intersection of Arthur Kill Road and Lee Avenue, sometime after the 2002 crash occurred.

"If a driver misses the stop sign [at the intersection], he isn't seeing the city's sign until it's too late," said D'Agostino.

The lawyer said a metal guardrail most likely would have prevented his clients' serious injuries.

Ms. Micciulla-Roman, 41, alleges the defendants were negligent in failing to design, construct and maintain the intersection to conform with commonly accepted engineering principles. She also contends the defendants failed to properly maintain the roadways in a safe manner for vehicles to travel.

A city Law Department spokeswoman said Friday the agency would "review any claims related to this matter on receipt."The incident occurred just after 4 a.m. on Sept. 28.

POLICE REPORT

According to the police accident report, Charles Trainor, 22, was driving a 2010 Hyundai Elantra at a "high rate of speed" on Lee Avenue. Trainor "disobeyed" two stop signs at the intersection of Lee and Arthur Kill Road, then hit a dip in the road which sent his car airborne, said the police report.

The Hyundai slammed just to the right of the front door, trapping Ms. Micciulla-Roman and her youngest daughter, who were sleeping on a couch in the kitchen.

Little Leonora suffered horrific injuries, including skull and eye-socket fractures and multiple lacerations, said the claim notice. Both Leonora and her mom allegedly suffered burn injuries requiring skin grafting and two surgeries.

Two other daughters sleeping in another room, Josette and Melissa Roman, suffered multiple scrapes and bruises and traumatic stress disorder, said D'Agostino.

Trainor was arrested and charged with three felony counts of vehicular assault and two felony counts of second-degree assault, said a spokesman for District Attorney Daniel Donovan. He's also accused of misdemeanor driving while intoxicated.

At Trainor's Sept. 29 arraignment in Stapleton Criminal Court, his lawyer, Yan Katsnelson, said Trainor lost control of the car after suffering a seizure. The attorney said Trainor has a history of epileptic seizures.

She said a Breathalyzer test showed Trainor's blood alcohol content was .07 percent at the scene and .02 percent about an hour later at the precinct. The legal threshold for driving while intoxicated in New York is .08 percent. She said then further toxicological tests would be conducted.---Follow @siadvance on Twitter